PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Ponnurangam Kumaraguru

Also known as PK

Ponnurangam Kumaraguru, known as PK, is a computer scientist who studies responsible and safe AI, social media and online privacy. Born and raised in Chennai, he earned a PhD at Carnegie Mellon, where his anti-phishing work at CyLab contributed to the startup Wombat Security Technologies, acquired in March 2018 for USD 225 million. At IIIT Delhi he was an Assistant Professor, founded the PreCog research group and headed the Cybersecurity Education and Research Centre, and in 2014 he coauthored the TweetCred credibility plug-in for Twitter. Stanford listed him among the World's 2% Scientists in November 2020, ACM named him a Distinguished Member in 2021, and a 2025 paper with his student Tejasvi Chebrolu earned a WebSci Best Paper Honorable Mention. He is a Professor of Computer Science at IIIT Hyderabad, where he runs Precog, and he serves as President of ACM India and spearheads the SARAL AI platform as a Visiting Scientist at the Anusandhan National Research Foundation.

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Timeline

  1. 2004

    A PhD at Carnegie Mellon

    Known as PK, he is born and raised in Chennai, works at the company SlashSupport, and joins Rajeev Sangal at IIIT Hyderabad as a research scientist. In 2004 he enrolls for a PhD at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science and works on anti-phishing systems at CyLab.

  2. By 2013

    Founding PreCog at IIIT Delhi

    Back in India, he joins IIIT Delhi as an Assistant Professor and Hemant Bharat Ram Faculty Research Fellow. He starts the PreCog research group, named after the film Minority Report, and serves as the Founding Head of the Cybersecurity Education and Research Centre. He serves on the program committees of WWW 2013 and AsiaCCS 2013.

  3. 2014

    The TweetCred credibility plug-in

    In 2014, he coauthors TweetCred with Aditi Gupta, Carlos Castillo and Patrick Meier. The browser plug-in scores the credibility of tweets in a user's timeline, and 1,127 Twitter users install it within three months.

  4. March 2018

    Wombat's USD 225 million sale

    Wombat Security Technologies, the startup that grew out of his anti-phishing PhD work at CMU, is acquired in March 2018 for USD 225 million.

  5. 2020–2021

    ACM Distinguished Member

    He joins the ACM India Council in July 2020, and Stanford University lists him among the World's 2% Scientists in November 2020. ACM inducts him as a Distinguished Member in 2021, and IIIT Hyderabad announces the honour.

  6. By 2022

    Professor at IIIT Hyderabad

    By 2022, he is a Professor of Computer Science at IIIT Hyderabad, where he continues his lab after leaving IIIT Delhi. His lab's tools include Saftie, TweetCred, Whatsfarzi, Spotfake and Factdrill, and its projects apply AI to legal proceedings and to farm-extension videos.

  7. 2025

    A WebSci 2025 paper award

    He, his student Tejasvi Chebrolu and Ashwin Rajadesingan of the University of Texas at Austin receive a Best Paper Award Honorable Mention at the 17th ACM Web Science Conference in May 2025. Their paper studies how personal narratives help politically disinclined individuals engage in political discussions.

  8. As of October 2026

    Leading ACM India and SARAL AI

    He is a Professor of Computer Science at IIIT Hyderabad and an Associate Faculty Fellow at IIT Madras's Centre for Responsible AI, and he runs Precog, whose work covers responsible and safe AI, applied machine learning and NLP. He serves as President of ACM India after becoming its Vice President in July 2024. As a Visiting Scientist at the Anusandhan National Research Foundation, he spearheads SARAL AI, an open-source platform that turns research papers and patents into videos, slides, podcasts and social posts in 19 languages.

Career

  1. Since 2004International Institute of Information Technology, HyderabadResearch Scientist
  2. NowIIT MadrasAssociate Faculty Fellow
  3. NowAnusandhan National Research FoundationVisiting Scientist
  4. Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology DelhiAssistant Professor; Hemant Bharat Ram Faculty Research Fellow, Founder

Education

  1. From 2004Carnegie Mellon UniversityPhD

From the biography.

  1. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes IIT Madras. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes IIT Madras. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes IIT Madras. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes IIT Madras. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Meet Prof. Ponnurangam Kumaraguru “PK” | Wadhwani School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence wsai.iitm.ac.in. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. RBCDSAI Seminar - Ponnurangam Kumaraguru | Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence rbcdsai.iitm.ac.in. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. Ponnurangam Kumaraguru | UMBC ebiquity ebiquity.umbc.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. PK's Bio | Precog Research Group precog.iiit.ac.in. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. [1405.5490] TweetCred: Real-Time Credibility Assessment of Content on Twitter arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. Dr Ponnurangam Kumaraguru blogs.iiit.ac.in. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. Prof. Ponnurangam Kumaraguru and his student Tejasvi Chebrolu, and Ashwin Rajadesingan, University of Texas at Austin received the Best Paper Award — Honorable Mention - IIIT Hyderabad iiit.ac.in. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. Precog Research Group precog.iiit.ac.in. Checked 22 October 2026.
  9. Ponnurangam Kumaraguru 'PK' | Centre for Responsible AI cerai.iitm.ac.in. Checked 22 October 2026.